The Hawk and the Widow?
by canaryhowl
Summary: There's a new man in Black Widow's life: Daredevil, and Hawkeye has no clue how to deal with it. Now with added ending!
1. Black Widow

Author's Note: I wanted to write a little story featuring Hawkeye and Black Widow's complicated relationship, but with nods to the Daredevil/Black Widow relationship from the comics. This takes place after the movie, and at the beginning of Daredevil's superheroing career. Not related to the Daredevil movie, though.

The Hawk and the Widow

Each arrow whizzed through the air, perfectly embedding itself in the bull's-eye of the canvas target. Hawkeye could shoot an arrow backwards, sideways, upside down, maybe even only using his teeth if his arms were tied up. He would try that sometime soon. The whole Loki debacle had at least reunited him with Natasha. Their relationship had always been complicated, was still complicated, but at least it wasn't boring.

Clint walked into the common area of the newly created Avengers Mansion, ready for a bite to eat after his long, grueling archery practice. Only Steve was in the kitchen, sipping coffee while reading the morning paper. Everyone else got their news from the Internet, but Steve had trouble even turning on the computer. Even though it was getting to a point where it was considered old-fashioned, Clint had to say reading the paper over breakfast had its soothing benefits. It was part of routine, and routine was one of the most relaxing parts of life. Consistency is rare, so Clint would take what he could get.

Walking past Steve, Clint caught a glimpse of the front page. "The Daily Bugle, Steve? That's the most biased paper on this side of the Atlantic. If you're going to read the paper, you might as well—" Clint's eyes drifted down the paper, and he ripped it right out of the unsuspecting super-soldier's fingers, staring down out the headline. Steve looked surprised; everyone was always ribbing him about his newspaper reading, but now someone else wanted to read it?

"Okay, I guess I'll just read another section..."

He reached for the local section, but Clint blocked him, stuffing the front page in his face and pointing at the large, center picture. "The Devil and the Widow? What's the meaning of this?" He brandished the page again, waving it around a bit, before Steve steadied the page to read over the caption.

Steve was beginning to question Clint's sanity, but he decided to humor the archer. "Wow! Natasha is on the front page of the paper. What an honor. Why, maybe you should go congratulate her. It looks like she is doing a fine job of welcoming new heroes into the community."

The photo in question was an action shot of the Black Widow and another costumed hero, known as Daredevil, working side by side to take down a group of bank robbers. From what Steve could tell of this "Daredevil", he was a strictly street-level hero. Steve had to commend him for that. Not everyone could be a big-time, save-the-world hero; there needed to be some superheroes that would focus on the little things. He didn't want to encourage vigilantism per se, but the importance of superheroes was growing, and a diverse set of heroes would make everyone's job easier.

"Too fine of a job, maybe. It looks like she is getting too cozy with this Devil character. I remember the days when the headlines would read, 'The Hawk and the Widow'. Those were the good old days."

"Um… Clint, weren't you and Natasha spies? I sincerely hope that you were not careless enough to get your pictures taken, let alone printed in the newspaper."

Clint waved him off. "Well, that's beside the point. There's something off about this Devil guy. I think it might be—"

"Clint!" Steve warned, glancing at a spot somewhere behind Clint, but the archer had no intention of being ignored.

"Listen, Steve, I'm just saying- there's something about the way he dresses. He's clearly crazy! I mean, what kind of person wears all of that yellow? A devil should be red! That suit is completely impractical, by the way. He's either crazy or completely colorblind. I'm leaning more towards the former," Clint finished, finally relinquishing the paper back to Steve.

"Wow, Clint. That was just too eloquent; I don't have words to describe how moved I am. I had no idea that you cared!"

Turning around slowly, Clint came face-to-face with the infamous Black Widow. Her face held an irritated expression, and her posture indicated her no-nonsense attitude.

"Good morning, Natasha!" Steve greeted, trying to pretend that everything was normal.

Natasha crossed her arms and glared at Steve, and he grabbed his coffee and hurried out of the room, leaving the newspaper behind on the kitchen counter.

"See you later, Steve," Clint called after him.

Leaning over on the kitchen counter, Natasha grabbed Clint's tried and calloused hands. "Clint, you know I've always loved you. Ever since that day, when you saved me from myself, but we've changed since then. I'm a different person, you're a different person. We don't need each other anymore, not like we did back then."

"Natasha, I…" He squeezed her hands longingly, but she pulled away.

"There is someone else in my life now, and it would mean everything to me if you could respect our relationship, respect him. I'm bringing him over here tonight, and I expect you to at least be civil."

"Listen, Natasha, I just…" He trailed off at the warning look on her face. "Fine, I'll be civil, but only as long as you tell him that all of the yellow just does not work for his costume. I don't think that this is the ideal place for a second date, though."

Smirking, Natasha shook her head as she made her way out of the kitchen. "Who said that this is only the second date?"


	2. Daredevil

Author's Note: I guess this is a two-shot because it didn't show up as updated when I added this part, so I made it into a new chapter.

Clint made sure that he would be the first one to greet Natasha's new partner by lingering outside the front entrance to the headquarters. Security hadn't exactly been perfected yet, but no one was about to break into a building full of super humans. Clint wanted to talk to this guy before anyone else even got the chance to meet him. This was, of course, assuming that the man was normal and polite enough to use the front door. As superheroes regularly barged through windows or made flashy entrances through unknown means, Clint wasn't sure if he was wasting his time or not. After waiting for over an hour, he finally gave up and went inside.

Already seated at the kitchen counter, chatting with Steve and Bruce, was a well-toned man in a yellow devil suit.

"Hello," the man greeted, not bothering to turn around.

Huffing, Clint took the seat next to Steve. "So, you blind or something, Devil-Dog? I mean, how could that suit happen?"

The man prickled, stiffening suddenly and clenching his jaw. Clint hadn't expected such a strong reaction from his childish jab, so he was taken aback. "Look man, I wasn't trying to insult your fashion sense or anything. It's just that you're calling a lot of attention to yourself with such a ridiculous outfit, especially for an unpowered, street-level hero like yourself. You don't have powers, right?"

Realizing that he had tensed up for seemingly no reason, the man relaxed, shrugging in response to Clint's question. "The name's Daredevil. Forgive me if I don't give away all of my secrets right now."

Steve placed a strong hand on Daredevil's shoulder. "Relax, son. You're among friends here. You can trust us."

After pausing for a moment, Daredevil pulled his cowl off his head, revealing mussed up red hair and a strong jaw line. Clint surveyed the man, looking over his face before finding himself staring straight into the man's eyes. His unseeing, clouded eyes. Clint opened his mouth to speak, but knowing that he was about to say the wrong thing, he immediately shut it.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Bruce coughed and asked, "So, what's your name?"

"Matt." Natasha walked in, looking less than amused. "I see you've met Steve, Bruce, and..." She paused, and Matt tilted his head up, curiously. "Clint," she added venomously.

"Is there something going on between you and Clint?" Matt asked her, frowning thoughtfully, and Steve and Bruce took this as their cue to quickly excuse themselves from the room.

"What makes you ask that?" She wrapped herself around him, arms snaking around his chest.

"His heart rate increased when you walked into the room and then again just now, and yours increased when you said his name."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Clint exclaimed, "You've got some kind of super-hearing?"

Matt escaped Natasha's grasp and stood up. "I understand, Natasha. You may be a super-spy, but you can't always control your emotions. Your heart gave you away."

She grabbed his hand and placed it over her heart. "Don't you feel that Matt? I feel that way when I'm around you. Clint and I… we're complicated."

"I'm still right here!" the archer shouted, "Don't I get to say something?"

"We'll talk later, Nat," Matt said, heading towards the door, "After things have cleared up between you two." He exited, and after a lingering glance at Clint, Natasha followed, slamming the door in her wake.

"Complicated is an understatement." Clint sighed, resting his head on the cool marble of the kitchen counter.


End file.
